Common mistakes in a report

Hints on doing it correctly

Table

• Centre column headings• Make columns just wide enough, with

different width for criteria column

Table

Never make headings from table columns into Heading2 or Heading2

Table

Format all tables in a document the same, i.e. line spacing, paragraph spacing, font style and size

Table

Align text in narrow columns left, never fully justified

Table

Align table with body text, not like this

Table

Keep table inside page text boundaries, not like this in the margin

What is wrong with the table?

Column widths

Indentation

Indent so that all text begins at the same place

Footnote

• Do not set a footnote on a heading• Body text under headings must be on the

topic of the headings, not this gumph

Headings

Body text under headings must be on the topic of the headings, not this waffle

Footnote

End sentence with a point or full stop

Font

Use same font for Table of contents and Table of figures, not this mish mash of font styles

Font

• Format whole document with same font• Modify headings so they are same font as

body font• Format text as colour only if printing in colour

Bullets

Bullet lists

Information

Explain or discuss the table and the chart, do not expect the reader to decipher the tables and charts

Introduction

Discuss what is coming, all the topics which are in the headings

What should be in the Conclusion?

Short summary of all that has been discussed, all the headings

Text

Start paragraph with most important sentence, i.e. do not bury it in the body

What is wrong with the font?

Style and capsKeep to ONE font and no caps (shouting)

Text

Start paragraph with important meaningful word, not ‘It’

Captions

Give meaningful captions to figures and tables, not these meaningless captions

Headings

Present text in the order of the heading, not like this example

Cross referencing

Cross reference tables and figures in the body of the text